Review: ROLLING HARVEY DOWN THE HILL, Genre 3, Poetry

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Prelutsky, Jack. 1980. ROLLING HARVEY DOWN THE HILL. Ill. By Victoria Chess. New York, NY: Mulberry Books. ISBN 0688122701

2. PLOT SUMMARY
This book is a collection of poems by Jack Prelutsky. This selection includes humorous poems which tell of the antics of five friends whom live in the same neighborhood.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
The Poems in this anthology by Jack Prelutsky all center around the topic of friendship and what goes on in the mischievous day to day lives of 5 neighborhood boys. Some to the poem topics include smoking, eating bugs, cheating, bragging, breaking rules, fighting, bad habits, practical jokes, and bullies. The poems in this selection are very funny, and most young boys will relate to them.
Organization – This selection includes more than a dozen short poems by the famous author/poet Jack Prelutsky. There is a page at the end of the book which gives background information on Prelutsky and the illustrator, Victoria Chess. There is a contents page in the beginning. This page builds anticipation. The titles of the poems set the tone for the antics of the boys which are portrayed.
Literary Merit- One selection, SMOKING IN THE CELLAR, centers on breaking rules. It gives a detailed description of the boys’ first try of a cigarette. The reader can visual the secretiveness of the action by the description. The boys “slipped inside the storage room and bolted shut the lock”. The reader can also “smell and taste” the nastiness of the cigarette,
“We coughed and wheezed and sputtered
as we breathed in clouds of smoke,
Will turned white and Lumpy green,
And Tony and I just choked.”
This vivid description should help to deter readers who have mischievous ideas. The characters are bold with strong traits. In this poem the character is stealing cigarettes from his grandmother. This poem, and the others in the book, will pertain to boys across time and ethnicity. They will relate to the topics. The topics are mostly about boyish qualities which are not to be bragged about but are definitely things boys do.
Poetic Elements – The poems in this selection are easy to read. They consist of short, easy to read lines. Rhythm and repetition are frequently present, “ slurp, slupp he ate it up,…….slupp, slurp Willie burped. The poems are very real and funny and often there is a lesson which is learnt at the end, such as in THE RACE. In this poem the character, Harvey, brags that he is the best and he can win any race. He is fast but when he turns to look back-
"He tripped and lost his footing
and smacked right into a wall-
it’ll be a week till Harvey brags
or plays with us at all."
The poem, MR. MULLIGANS WINDOW, also has a very interesting ending. In this poem the boys are playing baseball where they were not suppose to play and a window is broken when a home run is hit.
"Though Anthony busted the window,
I had written MY name on the ball."
Illustrations – The illustrations definitely add to the text. They are simple and in black and white but they capture the main idea of the poems. In the poem SMOKING IN THE CELLAR the expressions on the faces of the boys show just how sick the cigarettes are making them. In the poem LUMPY IS MY FRIEND the expressions on the faces of the characters show just how mischievous Lumpy is and by the expression of his friend, how confusing it can be to have a friend who does things which you do not agree with. These expressions help the reader to know just how the characters are feeling.
Appeal to Readers – These poems are very appealing to young readers, especially boys. The topics are all things which they can relate to. They are things which have happened or will happen to most any boy. My boys, age 5 and 7, thought that this book was great!!

4. REVIEW EXCERPT
Starred review in BOOKLIST - "Fresh and funny."
Booklist –“ Illustrated with line drawings guaranteed to provide chuckles, this series of poems details the misadventures of five neighborhood kids, four of whom in the title poem gleefully give a bully his due at the end of the book.”

5. CONNECTIONS
*This book can be used to model poetry which portrays situations which are personal.
* Can be used in writer’s workshop to model personal narratives in a poetic form.
* This book can be used to teach poetic elements of sound such as rhythm, repetition,
alliteration, and consonance.
* These poems can be used to illustrate the use of puns, word play, and humor.
* To teach vocabulary and figurative language.
* To teach sound / symbol correspondence.
* Used to promote oral language development.